President Joe Biden is too old to be president for former Clinton Labor Secretary Robert Reich, according to a new op-ed on Sunday.
Reich, who also served in President Obama’s economic transition advisory board, joined the growing number of media and Democrats showing concern over Biden’s age in a piece for The Guardian.
"At 79, Joe Biden is the oldest president in American history. Concerns about his age top the list for why Democratic voters want the party to find an alternative for 2024," Reich wrote. "I don’t think this reflects an ‘ageist’ prejudice against those who have reached such withering heights so much as an understanding that people in their late 70s and 80s wither."
Media speculation about President Biden's ability to run in 2024 mirror Democrats who have expressed concern over his age and low approval numbers. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
"It’s not death that’s the worrying thing about a second Biden term. It’s the dwindling capacities that go with aging," Reich explained.
Reich used his own age, 76, as a reference for what he fears could be "diminution in the memory department" for Biden.
"I’m also noticing less patience, perhaps because of an unconscious ‘use by’ timer now clicking away. I’m less tolerant of long waiting lines, automated phone menus, and Republicans," he added. "How the hell does Biden maintain tact or patience when he has to deal with Joe Manchin?"
Former Democratic Labor Secretary Robert Reich has also attacked Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz. (Getty Images/Reuters)
Although Reich suggested that Biden could be kept upbeat by a younger staff battling "the seditious Republican Party, the ravages of climate change, near record inequality, a potential nuclear war, and a stubborn pandemic," his overall outlook was negative.
"Santayana said old people have forebodings about the future because they cannot imagine a world that’s good without themselves in it. I don’t share that view. To the contrary, I think my generation-including Bill and Hillary, George W., Trump, Newt Gingrich, Clarence Thomas, Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, and Biden-have f*cked it up royally. The world will probably be better without us. Joe, please don’t run," Reich closed.
Reich previously wrote a Substack piece that called for Democrats to kick Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., out of the party. Manchin refusing to vote for Biden’s major legislation, Reich claimed, proves the party "already lost control over the Senate."
President Biden falls off his bicycle as he approaches well-wishers following a bike ride at Gordon's Pond State Park in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, on June 18, 2022. (Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)
Since June, various media outlets have begun openly questioning whether Biden will be too old act as president in 2024. A poll even suggested that a majority of Democrats do not want Biden to run again.
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Biden is set to turn 80 in November and would be 86 years old by the end of a second term.
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